What Meets The Eye
by CrazyPancakes98
Summary: Max Martinez is your average seventeen year old girl. Well, as average as you can get with two weird older brothers, an art crazy older sister and an adorable yet mischievous younger sister. Add in a fun yet surprisingly broody new next door neighbor and what do you get? Craziness, that's what.
1. Siblings

I was resting peacefully.

My mind floating in the hazy in between of sleep and awake. I'm too warm; the huge shirt I was wearing sticking to my overheated skin. I rolled over towards the window, the light red against my eyelids. It wasn't too comfortable, but it was a silent and tranquil morning.

A few minutes later my eyes flew open, blinking rapidly. A huge yawn escaped my throat as I turned over on my back to stretch my arms above my head and crack my neck and back from the kinks of slumber.

Something was wrong though.

I cocked my head to the side and listened. But it was quiet...too quiet. When living in a house with two older brothers, this has never happened before, _ever_.

Bur then the slight roaring of engines of a huge truck maybe caught my attention. Maybe more than one? I rolled over towards my window and ended up crashing to the floor in a heap instead. "Mother of fudge nuggets!" I grunted in pain. I untangled myself from the floor and shuffled, more like stumbled, towards the window that oversees the front yard.

There were two moving trucks, all lined across the curb in front of the house next door. I can see my family conversing with people I know I haven't seen before, but I just couldn't make out their faces. Must be the new neighbors that just moved in yesterday.

Might as well get my lazy butt ready for the day.

I made my way towards the bathroom, rubbing the inside of my wrists against my eyelids. I opened my eyes and looked at myself in the mirror.

Jesus H! I looked like a hot mess. My blonde hair was basically freaking EVERYWHERE; a few strands plastered to my forehead and cheeks. Dark crescent circles were prominent underneath my eyes, which may or may not have not have been caused by my late night movie watching (don't judge me). My tongue felt too heavy in my mouth; my lips were dry as hell and-holy sheep is that a zit! Crap, crap crap! I leaned towards the mirror and there it was, red and angry, smack dab in the middle of my nose.

Beauty sleep my ass.

I scrunched my face in disgust and unfortunately continued to get ready.

I showered, got dressed, brushed my teeth and threw my hair in a low ponytail in less than fifteen minutes. A new personal best, thank you very much.

I ran down stairs and headed next door.

I have two older brothers and one older sister. Iggy and Gazzy are twins and are going to be seniors this year, while the eldest, Ella, is going to college soon. I also have one adorably cute, yet incredibly mischievous younger sister named Angel. Iggy and Gazzy were slumped against each other; eyes almost closed, trying to hold themselves up. Angel, on the other hand, had already laid down on the lawn, resting her head on the teddy bear she had brought outside with her. Ella, well Ella was just standing there being Ella. I tugged on Ella's sleeve.

"Hey, why didn't you guys wake me up?" I crossed my arms and gave her a pointed look.

"I did, but you promptly slapped me in the face, rolled over and told me to '_fuck. off._'" He raised an eyebrow at me and I gave her a cheeky grin.

"You know, now that you mention it, I do see the outline of my hand on your face. Bitch slap is actually a good look for you." I laughed, while she glared daggers at me.

"Shut up Max," She pushed my shoulder, "you're just lucky I was too tired to push your stupid ass off the bed with my foot, or maybe it was that huge zit on your face that gave me a second thought about doing so."

I glared at her and quickly sobered up from my laughter. "Shut up you little-"

"Max! Now that you're finally awake, come meet the new neighbors!" My mom grabbed my arm and tugged me towards a couple around their mid-forties.

"Shannon, John, this is my daughter, Max." I gave them a bright smile and shook their hands. Shannon is a woman with a dainty figure. She has curly, shoulder length, dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes that are sheltered by thick, blonde lashes. When she smiled, twin dimples appeared on her cheeks and her eyes crinkled at the corners, which made the pencil lead thin scar, right above her left eyebrow, more noticeable. John is a broad and tall man. He has straight, short cropped black hair and the most peculiar blue green eyes I've ever seen. He also sported rosy pink lips and a light splashing of freckles on the bridge of his nose. When he smiled at me, I noticed his teeth were slightly crooked on the bottom row.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs..." I dragged on. I didn't quite catch their last name yet.

"Ride," Shannon said, "feel free to call me Shannon if you'd like, no need to be all formal." She laughed and it was contagious.

"Your mother tells me you're going to be a junior this year?" John said.

"That's correct." I responded. I clasped my hands behind my back and rocked back and forth on my heels-something I always did when I was feeling a little bashful.

"That's wonderful! In fact, our son is going to be a junior this year! Would you mind if you could show him around the new school maybe?" Mrs. Ride asked me, her eyebrows scrunched together and a corner of her mouth tilted up at the side.

"Of course, not a problem. Just a quick question though, where is your son?" I glanced towards their new home.

"Oh! He's just a late sleeper. We can't get his lazy butt outta bed for nothing!" Mrs. Ride laughed and so did we.

My dad put his hand on my shoulder, "We definitely understand." He gave me a look and I elbowed him in the stomach.

"It was nice to meet you all, we'll have to catch up soon." Mr. Ride said. He grabbed Mrs. Ride hand and started to walk away, not before giving us a hearty wave and a smile though.

Once they left, Ella said "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going back to sleep..." she started to make her way back towards the house.

"We second that." Iggy and Gazzy mumbled. Angel just remained sleeping on the ground.

"We made breakfast this morning you guys," Mom said, "bacon and eggs are on the stove." Almost instantly we were alert.

"BACON!" Angel popped from her sleeping position, her eyes wide as saucers. Her teddy bear, Mr. Wiggles, was clutched tightly to her chest.

"What the hell man? How did we not detect the delectable scent of delicious bacon?" I said, a hand clutched above my heart and what I thought to be a dreamy look on my face. My siblings and I all gave each other one look.

One look was all we needed.

"FOR NARNIA!" Iggy screamed and sprinted towards the front door.

I ran, totally hell bent on getting my fair share of bacon before anyone else did. However, this is _MY FAMILY_ I'm talking about.

All at the same time, we crashed into the door jamb kicking and screaming.

"Get outta my way you idiots!" I screamed, while elbowing Gazzy in the stomach and stepping on Iggy's foot.

"Why don't you make me weirdo!" Iggy grunted.

"Oh wow good one Iggy, why don't you come over here so I can weirdo your face!" In retaliation, I licked my hand and shoved it on his face. I think I made my point clear.

"Aww gross! What kind of sick person are you!" Iggy spluttered.

"A person who's soooo kicking your ass after this." I grunted, and continued to push my way into the house.

That's when I saw her.

Angel walked towards us, chewing on MY. BACON. Crumbs were scattered across her face and there were at least five pieces in her hands. Why that little-

"Hey guys." Natalie licked her fingers and continued chewing.

We all paused and stared at her, before Gazzy asked the question we were all thinking.

"How the hell did you get in before we did?"

Angel smiled and ate yet another piece of delicious bacon.

"If you stupid heads would've thought a second, you would've realized that there's a back door to this house." She laughed merrily, turned on her heel and left.

A few seconds passed in shock.

"Well I officially feel like an idiot. We just got our asses handed to us by a ten year old girl." Iggy said.

I was thinking the same thing.


	2. First Day

*2 weeks later*

_*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*_

Uuuuuugggggghhhh!

_*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*_

Fudge my life! Fudge, fudge, fudgity, fudge, fudge! I grabbed my iPhone and shut off my stupid loud alarm. I rolled over on my back and squinted at the ceiling, hating life. It was then that I came to one conclusion:

I freakin' hate school.

I groaned and threw the sweet, warm covers off my body. Cold air seeped onto my skin, and goosebumps appeared on my arms and legs.

Why god, why?

I mumbled all the way down stairs to begin my morning. As I walked down stairs, I could already hear dishes clanking and footsteps scraping across our wood floors.

I walked towards the fridge and robotically made my self some Lucky Charms for breakfast. As I sat down, I noticed three empty seats at our table. Mom and Dad are both teachers for a high school in a different town. They said it pays better, so I just take their word for it. But there was one person in particular I was missing the most. I sighed, and recalled the departure of my eldest sibling Ella. She was in college now and although I was happy for her, I miss her so much it hurts. I can see the others missing her too, by the way they keep glancing at her old seat.

I sighed again and continued to eat my cereal in silence for the very first time.

After taking a shower, brushing my teeth and washing my face, it was time to determine what to wear on the first day of school. Now, I'm not one to be prissy over one little outfit, but I decided _what the hell?_ It's the first day of school so why not try to look somewhat decent?

I scanned my closet and decided on a short sleeve white button down shirt and a black tank underneath with my black skinny jeans and some black low top chucks. My accessories include a multitude of bracelets and wristbands that I have collected over the years, two rings, diamond stud earrings, and a silver flower necklace I got for my birthday last year.

My makeup on the other hand is very simple. I apply chap stick first, strawberry is my absolute favorite, and then brush some powder on my face. Not too much, but just enough to cover up some pesky red bumps that I've acquired over the summer. Next is clear lipgloss and then I'm done! I would put on mascara, but due to the fact that I hate it, I don't wear it. I experimented with my mom's a while back and although it looked cute, it would always smudge sooner or later and I ended up looking like a raccoon.

Not my best look.

My hair is naturally bone straight. I'm not feeling too particular about it this morning, even if some of it tends to fly in my face, so I just settled on letting it hang loose.

Anywhoozies, after all that tiring preparation, I grabbed my backpack, my favorite black hoodie, car keys, a water bottle and headed downstairs.

The twins already left and now it was just me and Angel. Her legs were propped on the arm of the couch and her focus was on one of her books. Actually it was one of _my_ books, but that's okay. It was just one of the traits we shared, being a bookworm that is.

I shook her feet to get her attention.

"Come on Short Stuff, get your ass in the car, and make it snappy." I walked towards the front door and opened it.

"Come on, chop chop!" I snapped three times to get her attention.

Angel sighed and collected her belongings.

"A simple hurry and please would've been better you impatient and ungrateful muggle." She responded in a British accent.

Did I mention she was reading Harry Potter?

I scoffed. "You do realize that if I'm a muggle, your a muggle too right?"

I locked the door behind us and walked towards my car. It was still shiny and clean as a whistle from the wash I gave it a couple days ago.

"I am not a muggle! I just have awesome magical powers and you don't! You're just-you're just jello!" Angel ranted. After giving a satisfied look at finding the right words, she nodded her head and got in the car.

I cocked an eyebrow at her. I jumped in the car and turned on the radio. "Any magical powers that you have consist of stupefying people with the idiocy that comes out of that mouth of yours." I laughed at the face she made at my comment. Kind of looked like she smelled one of Iggy's smelly old soccer cleats. "Shut up Max." Angel said and crossed her arms in annoyance. I winked at her. "Can't stand the heat Short Stuff then get out of the kitchen." I pulled out the driveway and began my daily routine of mentally preparing myself for the torture that was school.

"And stop calling me that awful nickname."

"What? Short Stuff? I thought you loved my nickname for you?"

"Uh no. I don't."

"Would you rather I call you Nabby McStuffingtons?" Angel's expression looked as if she had tasted something sour.

"No! That's even worse!"

"Short Stuff it is."

"I hate you."

"Love you to sis. Love you too."

_*15minutes later*_

After dropping Angel off at the middle school, it was time for me to start off my first day of high school as a junior.

As usual people were milling about, waiting for the warning bell to ring at around 7 o'clock. I scanned the school's parking lot hoping to see my long time best friend Ella.

Ella and I have been best friends since the second grade. From first crushes to first dates, this girl and I have been through a lot together growing up and I'm glad to say that I can always count on her.

A few seconds pass and I spot her trademark wavy dark brown hair with electric blue highlights I've come to know and love. Ella's back was towards me and her focus was probably on the lyric journal that she's had since...well, ever. I've never seen her without it and she says it's, and I quote, her "_ticket outta this hellhole"_. Small town's not really her thing and her dream is to become a famous songwriter when she's older.

I locked the doors to my car and snuck up behind her. I read over Ella's shoulder. Apparently she was writing about crickets? Whatever.

"Crickets Ella. Really?" She jumped and snapped her journal closed immediately. Her body twisted towards mine and she looked _piiiiiiiised_. But once she realized it was only me, her face relaxed and she placed a hand on her hip.

"It's original and it sounds great in my head so don't be judgy." She shoved me lightly on the shoulder and I smirked at her.

"I'm _soooo_ judging you right now." I laced my arm around hers and walked towards the main entrance of McAllister High School.

"So how was your vacation in Georgia Ellie? Did you miss me?" My tone turned babyish.

"I did Maxy Waxy. My heart ached every time I thought about you. I practically counted down the minutes until I could see your ugly face again." Ella laughed and I just glared.

"You did not just call this beautiful beast right here ugly." I crossed my arms and cocked a hip.

"I think I just did Maxine. So what you gonna do about it?" She stuck her tongue out at me, a playful smile gracing her lips afterwards.

I bit my lip, a mischievous thought coming to mind. "This!" I yelled and lunged for her lyric journal still in her grasp. I ran towards the school.

"Max! Get your ass back here and give me back my journal!" Ella screamed. I just laughed victoriously. I placed my hand on the double doors to the main entrance and turned my face towards her. Ella was still trying to catch up to me, but I was always the faster one. "_Neva_!" I said in a British accent and sprinted into the building.

I think this is a refreshing way to start the first day of school don't you?


End file.
